I had this Idea a while back, that i could take a low power cheap pc and make it into a re-purposed server. So i Decided to buy a few thin clients that where cheap, so i ended up with these 16mb flash 32 mb ram, 300MHz power house…… Now that i look at it i probably should have shopped around a little to get one with more memory, but fret not i did have an extra 128mb sodimm, I’m am also waiting to get a 128mb SM card from ebay so i have more flash.
but let me get to the point.
I want to Run Linux on this thing , then add custom packages like a proxy, a web-server, FTP with a USB stick, or a music streamer , any application that could be just plug and play and you have your instant server, of course all server applications need a little setup but lets make them smart so they configure themselves no matter where you plug them in and have a network , but also have overrides for the advanced user.
but this is all but a dream at the moment so let me begin with what i have
- Evo T20 16m//30m
- Ubuntu setup with TFTP and DHCPD
- a network or a crossover cable
- an original firmware file for you Evo (for me it the win ce .net)
- a hex editor and a some interesting tools
also suggested is an extra keyboard, an extra mouse, extra monitor, some patience and the final thing a Hammer for that one moment the machine gets the best of me (thats why i bought a 5 of them)JK
I am guessing this would be usable for any embedded device with some minor tweaking. so far i have my TFTPD setup nothing really to do to get it working it will run from a script that makes this whole thing so much easier, then i set up this Spare belkin home router for my network, For my network settings for the router are for DHCP turned off, WAN turned off and any other settings that may need to be set the ip scheme i am using is 192.168.2.0
next i setup my DHCPD, i will not go into configuring DHCPD, i managed to get my running with very little effort
Here is the Script i used to flash my evo Netxfer it worked for me the first time i flashed my evo following his instructions
now for the Fun part, editing the bin file, there are a few ways that i have looked up, one is a set of tools called bundle-tools, which extract the headers and the files from the bin file, the other way is to mount the bin file as a loop device, i have tried but with out luck to do it this way, as for the bundle tools, i will post a link when i find it or upload the source if i cant find it.
I will be updating as soon as i have any progress, my first step is to get grub working on the machine first then add teh OS after that, and that is a whole another story because i have chosen to use the LFS to build my Linux on this machine.
Looking for some other application ideas for my project, im looking to expand on how this thing could be used and customized
10 Comments
Hello!
The bundletools you are looking for I guess, are here: http://winterm.gaast.net/downloads/
I am also trying to use my EVO T20 16/32 as a thin client with thinstation as base (http://thinstation.org/)
Have you had any luck with editing the firmware?
Best regards
Peter
Hi Peter,
Those are the bundle tools i use, same version and everthing. As for the firmware, i was able to edit the firmware, there are 2 ways of editing it, one you use bundle tools, great for repackaging files into the image, the other is mount .bin as a loopback device and edit it like a harddisk, I used the second method to load up grub on the image, and that is where i had to put it down for a bit.(didnt have the setup to continue).
it takes a little playing around with but it is something that can be acomplished.
but have you tried loading up your evo using the network boot option and load it in through TFTP?
I may try that once i get my setup and server going again with your thinstations.org image. but let me know if you need any more help, I am always up for a challenge!
your most likely going to have to build a custom thinstation image file, using the TS-o-Matic tool on there website, I know there is a few things that need to be built in, like the Geode Processor, and the network card. Good luck and let me know how it goes!
Justin
Hi, any news on this project? I have one T20 at home and want to build up a internet machine (only firefox). Do you think it’s possible?!
Thanks for feedback
BR Jan
It is possible to do such a thing, Currently my project is on hold due to my DHCP/boot server not working, but there are images out there that have a working GUI and a web browser installed. There are also t20 images that use a USB memory to load the OS and are much easyier to setup.
you just have to find out what kind of t20 you have and make sure the image matches, other wise you may brick your machine
Hi iv begun working on a few of these T20 units mine are the 32/64 ones. i have seen one guy managed to get puppy linux running from the usb drive through one.
My intention is to get Webserver Puppy up and running through one of these with the addition of a few other programs not included.
i keep running into trouble however when i go to boot from usb and was curious to know how hard it would be to get a boot manager like PLOP onto these?
Plop might work. . I will keep this in mind when i resume this project.
To install PLOP you would have to copy the .bin file to the first sector (check the grub install for the T20) of the firmware and reload the T20.
the only way to find out is load plop into the firmware and load it up and see
hope this little bit of info helps!!
Hi,
PLOP idea is very exciting. I have several T20 boxes using Baldar’s images.
May I ask you a question – when do you plan to resume the project in the context of incorporating PLOP?
Thanks,
Bogdan
I would like to start it early as possible, but the earliest will most likely in Dec, or latest Feb, hopefully in the next month i will have my TFTP server up and running so i can quickly re- image the boxes, last time i was having issues and when i reloaded my dev server i didnt reconfigure it, so it will be worked on soon lol
as for PLOP integration I am currently researching it to see how hard/easy it would be to accomplish it, then when i pick it back up i will start working in that direction
hi there,
deperately i’ve been looking for a solution to run some linux (eg. thinstation or simnilar) on an evo t20 (32/16 still with a ce2.12). only an rdp client is needed, cause the machine should run as an normal rdp-client in an w2k3 network. you may ask, why it doesn’t with the ce2.12. well after one of these automatic win-updates (server!!) in oktober there is no way to rdp-connect with theses old machines. i guess the rdp-client is rather old! any other client works (tried that with various clients on linux) so a “evo thinstation might work!)
Any ideas where to get some information!
Thin station should work great for you, but you may want to read http://www.freewysemonkeys.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=20 gives some great info on thin clients. also look into the Wyse Linux which should have some firmware for the T20, this should provide the basics for you. Most T20 projects i come across on google have been closed but the info is still good even if its from 2006 lol.
edit http://www.technicalhelp.de/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=MostPopular&PHPSESSID=gvss3iuuvdbu5bfnqclhha8so2
has some software related to Thinclients